At least 42 civil society organisations have rejected the version of the electoral bill being worked on by the National Assembly, which they say was a corruption of the original proposal.
The National Assembly version of the electoral bill, which the NGOs say is likely to be passed this Thursday, July 8, removes vital elements of the original proposal.
The statement, signed by the groups, read: “As everyone may be aware, the National Assembly will pass the Electoral Amendment Bill (2021) this week. Barring any last-minute changes, the Bill is expected to be passed by both chambers on Thursday.
“Some proposals canvassed by citizens were adopted in the Bill e.g., electronic voting, financial independence of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and new timelines for submission of list of candidates. However, there are discrepancies
between the approved version of the Bill and the alleged final copy, where some key provisions have been manipulated.
In the alleged final copy, some key priority amendments were rejected by the leadership of the National Assembly, e.g. electronic transmission of results has been prohibited (S.50(2)) and the limits on campaign expenses have been increased (S.88).
” We are also concerned that the National Assembly has rejected the proposal empowering INEC to review the declaration of scores and return of candidates made by a Returning Officer,
and determine that the declaration was made under duress or contrary to the provisions of the law (S.65). Following, the events of the 2019 general elections, we are convinced that INEC needs to have this power in order to prevent politicians from going through the backdoor to win election and steal electoral mandate at gun point! It is instructive to note that following the submission of the Electoral Amendment Committee’s report, the National Assembly leadership undertook an additional review of the report to insert and reject some amendments unilaterally, without going through the established process for such insertion.
“We are concerned that the alleged final copy of the Electoral Amendment Bill, which we have reviewed, does not represent the interests of the Nigerian people and we therefore consider it a forged document that must not be substituted for our legitimate demands.
Five examples of discrepancies noted are summarised below.
“In particular, the manipulation of Section 50(2) undermines INEC’s effort to improve the election results management regime, considering that we recently witnessed the successful introduction of the Election Results Viewing Portal in some of the off-cycle elections, which improved the integrity of the process greatly. In addition, the dramatic increase in spending limits, should be of great concern to all Nigerians. It is an indication that the National Assembly is committed to entrenching a political system that is heavily monetised.
“We are worried about the grave implications these underhanded manipulations and illegal actions will have on our Electoral Process. We call on Senate President Ahmed Lawan and Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, to speak up clearly that they are not aware of these amendments and are not part of any attempt to subvert the voices of Nigerians.
“We also urge Nigerians to stand up to resist this latest attempt by the National Assembly to manipulate the Electoral Act for self-perpetuation and self-interest. We must ensure this bill is not passed on Tuesday, July 6, 2021.
“We will continue to make the contact information of National Assembly members available so that Nigerians can engage their representatives directly,” the statement reads
